A Jedi's Tale
by Rascarin
Summary: My KotOR fanfic. DISCONTINUED on account of its sheer poopiness and my laziness.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Here it is; my first fanfic. It is based on the story in SW KotOR. It is written from Bastila's point of view, and deals with a male Revan. I have changed some things in the story from how they are in the game to make it more interesting (hopefully). Please read and review.

Chapter 1

I stepped to the side to avoid my opponents attack, and then brought my lightsaber sharply across his chest. Clutching his wounds, he fell at my feet and I sensed him join the Force.

To my left one my companions, a male green Twi'lek, staggered forwards to stand next to me. His left arm was missing below the elbow, and his face and chest were laced with saber cuts. He put his remaining hand on my shoulder, and spoke quietly. "May the Force...be with you, padawan." He stumbled, and then fell to join the corpses already littering the bridge of Revan's flagship.

To my right stood my only surviving companion, a female human like me. Somehow, she had managed to remain uninjured during the battle. Her face was calm, despite the bloody slaughter we had just endured; the ideal, emotionless Jedi. She turned to face me. "There is no death; there is the Force. Time to end this fight."

She returned her attention to the figure standing at the head of the bridge. He was completely covered by his black robes, and his face concealed by a mask. The dark side power radiating from him almost made me feel sick. I heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber, and in a flurry of blue, my companion charged at Revan.

The battle was very short. Revan disarmed her as easily taking a toy from a child, and used the Force to choke the life out of her. I felt cold as I realised – I was going to die.

Revan laughed, a cruel, icy laugh. "Well, Bastila. You have done well to get this far, and it would be a dreadful shame for you to die so young. So I have a proposition for you. My apprentice, Malak, has grown too ambitious. I suspect he will try and challenge me for my place as Sith Lord. I will not let that happen. Join me, and take Malak's place at my side."

"And if I refuse your oh-so-generous offer?" I asked, speaking the words of the Jedi code in my head.

"I don't think you realise how generous I am being. But, if you refuse, then you join your friends in Jedi heaven." His hand was rested on his lightsaber as if to prove his point.

"No. I will not betray the republic."

"Pity. You are many things, Jedi, but I didn't think stupid was one of them." His ignited his two lightsabers, one red, and the other violet. "It is time for you to join the Force."

Before he could act further, a huge explosion rocked the ship. The red beams of blaster fire pelted the ship, but they did not come from a republic vessel. Before the second explosion, I noticed that the fire came from the Leviathan, Malak's ship.

I was knocked over by the force of the assault on the ship, landing in a sticky puddle of blood. I looked up at Revan in time to see the blaster fire penetrate the hull and hit a power conduit behind him. He cried out in agony as electricity snaked up his back, along his limbs, and through his head. His mask glowed white underneath his hood before he fell backwards to the floor.

I could sense that he was still alive, but barely. I crawled to where he lay, black smoke rising from his charred robes. I pulled the mask off his head, and saw his face for the first time.

His skin was grey-white, with veins protruding all over his forehead. His eyes were closed, but I knew that they were completely yellow. His face was very thin, the bones stuck out sharply.

I knew Revan had seconds to live, but I had one thing I could try. Using the Force, I pushed into his mind and held on to the tiny spark of life left in him. His heartbeat was faint, but it kept going.

I pulled the body over my shoulders, and stood up slowly. I called upon the force to give me strength and speed, and made my way back towards where my ship was docked in the hangar.

When I got there I was close to collapsing under Revan's weight. I dropped him just inside the ship and closed the landing ramp. The anxious pilot greeted me. "Is that...Darth Revan?"

"Yes. Quickly, go. The ship is under attack." He nodded, and returned to the cockpit. I sank to my knees next to Revan, and looked again at his face. His brow was furrowed in pain, and his breath hissed in and out of his mouth. "Hold on." I whispered, as the blackness of sheer exhaustion slowly enveloped me.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Well here is chapter 2. I would have put it up sooner, but I had to reinstall my entire computer. The next chapter shouldn't be too long in coming. Tell your friends! (please?)

Ice Appeal: Yes, this will be a BastilaXRevan story. But that's all I'm saying for now, you'll just have to keep reading! : P

Chapter 2

More than three months had passed, and I was still assaulted by nightmares of my time aboard Revan's flagship almost every night. I couldn't understand the dream. It was as though everything was from Revan's perspective. I could even feel his anger, his pain, and his fear.

My thoughts were interrupted by a republic officer in a hideous orange jacket approaching me. "Padawan Bastila, The Endar Spire is ready."

"Thank you, Commander Onasi. Plot a course for Dantooine. The sooner we leave the better. If I am needed, I will be in my chambers." He saluted and left, and I made my way to my room.

When I got there, I found the small communicator among my personal belongings. I pressed a small button on the side, and about a minute later a reply came through. "Yes, Padawan?"

"Greetings, Knight Ulgo. Have you located him yet?" Trask Ulgo was an undercover Jedi posing as a soldier with the fleet. He was possibly the only person outside of the Jedi council who knew that Revan was alive, and even worse, aboard this ship.

"Yes, as luck would have it. He has been placed as my roommate. I shall let you know immediately if anything comes up." It was his primary duty to ensure Revan's survival if the ship came under attack, but he also had to watch him for any signs of the dark side. Certainly not an enjoyable task, but he was the only one the council could trust to do the duty.

"Good. May the Force be with you." I did not like the lie the council was weaving. Not even my four Jedi companions knew what the Endar Spire's _real_ mission was. They believed, like the rest of the crew, that we were stopping off at Dantooine to pick up more Jedi from the enclave there to aid in the fighting against the Sith, and then taking them to various republic outposts.

The council planned to get Revan off the ship at Dantooine, so that the council members there could tap his memories to find the source of the Sith power. I sighed, and decided to meditate before I made myself even more depressed.

I took special care to not see Revan on board the ship. Despite the fact that I had saved his life, I was still terrified of him, and had no desire to meet him again.

Two days into our journey to Dantooine, I was arguing with Commander Onasi about the drunkenness of some of the soldiers. We had just come out of hyperspace above planet Taris. "My point is, Carth, that your troops should not be acting in such a manner. What if the ship came under attack? We would not be able..."

He interrupted me "When on their break, the troops are allowed to drink. As long as they are not lax in their duties, there is not a problem."

"So you find it completely acceptable for the troops to approach their commanding officer and ask her to..."

He interrupted me again. "Alright, Jedi, calm down. The offending soldier will be severely reprimanded, and made to apologise for humiliating you. Happy?"

"Well, it would be a start, but..." For the third time, I was cut off, but this time by a siren and red flashing lights. _Am I never going to be able to finish a sentence today?_ I raged to myself.

"Two Sith Destroyers. Approaching from both Port and Starboard sides. Commander, should I sound the alarm?" An anxious looking technician looked to Carth for orders.

"Yes. Every man to the bridge. Bastila must be protected at all costs!"

"I have left my lightsaber in my room." I left the bridge quickly. It was true, I did need my lightsaber, but I also had to speak to Trask.

When I arrived, the communicator was already bleeping – Trask had already tried to contact me. "Trask?"

"Yes, I am on my way there now. I think he is asleep."

"Okay. You know what you have to do."

"For the Republic." And then he was gone. I knew I would never see him again, but I refused to let my personal feeling get in the way of duty. I picked up my lightsaber and ran back to the bridge.

"Bastila, We have Sith boarding parties all over the ship. We may not be able to hold them off."

One of the other Jedi approached. "Padawan, you need to be ready to escape. The rest of us will try and stave off Malak's followers." Fifteen minutes passed with Carth anxiously watching the life support systems, as almost hundreds of Sith, represented by red dots, swarmed from the hangar bays. Occasionally, blue or red dots would disappear as the person represented by the dot died. Far more blue dots went than red.

Carth swore, then shouted at his technician. "Give the order – everyone else to the escape pods. We are too heavily outnumbered, we can't win this battle. Bastila, quickly follow me."

As he made his way quickly to the starboard section of the ship, he spoke to me. "The Sith must have found out that you are on board. They will want to capture you for your Battle Meditation. If they had you, they would be unstoppable."

"I would never betray the republic!"

"Yeah, I bet that's what Revan and Malak said before they went to the dark side."

"You don't trust me do you?"

"I don't trust anybody. Now go!" He pushed me towards one of the escape pods. When the seven spare seats were filled, the escape pod launched.

Through the tiny window at the head of the pod, I could see Taris rapidly approaching. Then tiny specks appeared, which were buildings, and then they became large specks, and then they became clear. Suddenly, we were amongst them.

We hit the ground, crashing straight through it to another floor, and then crashing again, and passing into a third floor. We collided with the ground again, and finally stopped.

By that time, the escape pod had almost been torn apart. The entire roof was missing, and I saw that I had escaped losing my head by a matter of inches. The walls were bent completely out of shape, pushing uncomfortably close to the technician from the bridge, who was sitting opposite me.

We were the only survivors of the crash. He had blood all over his face, and I was suddenly aware of a terrible pain in my left arm. It was broken. Slowly, I brought the shards of bone back together using the Force.

When the pain stopped and I stopped shaking some ten minutes later, I pulled myself out of the wreckage, and was followed shortly by the technician. It was a wonder we had survived. "We need to get out of here fast. Taris is occupied by the Sith, and they will be looking for you."

I nodded, and looked at our surroundings. It was dark – the only light came from dim lights in the ceiling, and the hole we had made in the roof. The floor looked like permacrete covered in dirt, and small weeds had managed to grow. It stank, so I supposed we must have landed near the sewers.

A slight prickling of the Force in my mind told me to look around. When I did, I saw about fifteen figures running towards us. They were all wearing some ugly uniform, but they were not guards or soldiers.

The technician drew his vibroblade, and I reached for my saber. My hand met air. My saber was probably in the pod still, but it was too late to get it. We were surrounded. A Twi'lek looked at me and the technician, and then spoke in basic.

"The man is useless to us. Kill him. Save the woman. She will fetch a good price on the slave market. Brejik will be pleased."

The other gang members, a motley assortment of aliens and humans, surrounded the technician. He fought bravely, but despite me using Battle Meditation to help him, he died.

The Twi'lek turned to me. "Now you come with us. Be a good pet for Brejik."

I looked at him contemptuously. "I am no 'pet'. Keep your filthy hands away from me."

"Then I shall have to use this neural restraint collar to ensure you come without a fight." The gang members attacked at once, and held my arms still so I could not stop the leader putting the collar on me.

He grinned a slimy, smug grin, and fastened the collar around my neck. And then I was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: This chapter was really difficult to write. I don't think it is very good. But anyway, read review, and I'll get the next chapter underway.

sammie teufel: As to the Trask bit n Ch2, loads of people on the forums go on about him so much; I thought he deserved some kind of interesting background.

Prisoner 24601: Thanks for the comments. I changed that bit you pointed out in chapter 1 to make it more realistic.

Chapter 3

It was strange being under the influence of the neural restraint collar. It was like being completely detached from my body. Just a mind floating amongst thoughts and memories.

It was incredibly easy to think without the distractions of the outside world. If I focused hard enough, I could just about sense myself through the collar's power. Sight and movement were impossible, but I was vaguely aware of sounds, though nothing comprehensible.

I could explore every fraction of my mind. It was like travelling on a timeline – almost all my memories were accessible, except the very earliest ones.

My first pet Gizka, Snub. Snub's twenty-three Gizka pups. My first day at school. Travelling on father's spaceship. Joining the Jedi. My training. Using Battle Meditation for the republic. My first kill.

I focused my energies on trying to break out from the influence of the collar, but the harder I fought to be free, the further away reality seemed. Amidst the nothingness, I found my memories of Revan.

I remembered fleeing the destruction of Revan's flagship, and taking his body to Courscant. He had not woken during the flight, but he had remained alive. I remembered how the Jedi Master's tied him to a table, and ruthlessly forced their way into his mind.

"_I cannot find what I am looking for. His mind barriers are far too strong."_

"_Then we must proceed to the second stage. Revan is too dangerous to be set free, and we cannot keep him captive." The other master nodded in reply, and went back into Revan's mind. Only this time he was not finding memories. He was burying them._

_Revan cursed and raged, swearing destruction upon the Jedi. When this failed, he tried bargaining. Still the masters proceeded. Then he begged. He pleaded. He screamed. He cried. And then he was silent. The Force echoed the agony he had endured all through the room._

Then the masters had replaced Revan's lost mind with a new one. They spent several weeks creating a convincing past for the new occupant. They gave him a new name.

Before the crash, I hadn't been able to remember the new name, but the neural restraint collar gave me easy access to the memory. Kail Artoz, soldier in the republic fleet.

I shook my head, and realised I had returned to myself. I was in a poorly lit, smelly room. My hands were tied behind my back, and there was a guard either side of me, both wearing the ugly gang uniform. In front of me was standing a man, obviously the leader, and either side of him were his bodyguards.

"Oh, wakey wakey. Welcome to the Black Vulkar head quarters." He laughed, and the guards laughed with him. I shuddered.

A green Twi'lek male who was standing to the leader's right spoke next. "What is your name, woman?" A looked straight at him with my 'you-are-scum' face. The grin he gave me said 'I am a git'.

"You are afraid of me." I said to him, using the Force to influence his thinking.

"I...am afraid of you!" He backed away and hid behind one of his companions.

The leader spoke again. "I was considering keeping this one for myself, but she seems to have a foul attitude." He walked in a circle around me. "I have a better idea. She can go as the Vulkar share of the price in the upcoming swoop race." He turned to the green Twi'lek. "Kandon, sort the woman out some more appealing clothes, and lock her away until the race. Or are you too scared?"

Kandon scowled at me. "Come, woman."

"I will not go anywhere." I used the Force again. It worked.

"She is not going anywhere, Brejik."

"You useless fool, Kandon. Use an obedience collar." Kandon did his 'git' grin again, and fastened a new contraption around my neck. My feet started shuffling after him, despite me trying to keep still.

He led me to another smelly room. "You will stay in here until the race. If you are hungry, press that button. Your new clothes will arrive soon." He turned and left the room.

I sat on the bed and waited.

A week later, they had not taken the collar off. In fact, after Kandon had left, I had remained alone, which was to my liking.

A man entered the room carrying a black bundle, which he dropped onto the floor. "The swoop race is tomorrow, and Brejik says you will wear this. Put it on now." The obedience collar made me do it. He had the decency to look away as I changed into the disgusting clothes.

"I am done."

"Good. Now you will wear this." I recognised the device he held to be the neural restraint collar. He fastened it on, and everything disappeared once more.

But this time, I knew how to escape.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Sorry it took so bloody long people – been going through the busiest time at school. Well, its work experience now and I hope to post a few chapters (no promises). Thanks for your reviews. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 4

The effects of the neural disruptor were similar those of deep meditation, or the place between sleep and wakefulness. All I had to do was wake up.

It was harder than I thought it should be. Often, I thought I was free of the collar, but as I tried to move, I was pulled down again. It felt like drowning.

It was impossible to keep track of the time. It could have been hours, or merely seconds between my attempts to free myself of the collar. Eventually, I managed to get a clear hold within myself, aware of sounds and feelings.

"People, hear me! There is something you must know! The winning rider cheated!"

A briefly quested out with the Force, and discovered where the catch on the collar was. In a huge effort, I lifted my hand to my neck and caught hold of the catch before the darkness came back.

"You're a damn liar, Brejik!"

Summoning my will once more, I twisted the metal fastening, and the collar snapped open. It clattered to the floor, and vision returned with a glaring brightness. I was in a cage, and one of the Vulkar guards was standing in front of it, blocking my view of the argument taking place.

Brejik was shouting something about withdrawing his share of the prize because of an unfair advantage. I shuddered, realising that he wanted me for himself, and decided to speak up. "I might have something to say about that."

"What? You were restrained by a neural disruptor! You couldn't possibly have summoned the willpower to free yourself!" It was almost pleasing to see fear on his ugly face.

"You should never underestimate the power of a Jedi's mind. A mistake you won't live to regret."

I pushed the cage door open, and it swung up, hitting the guard on the back of the head. Stunned, he fell forwards and smashed his face into the desk in front of him. Then he toppled sideways, unconscious. I picked up his a weapon – a crude and poorly balanced but serviceable double-vibroblade.

"What? Vulkars, to me! Kill the swoop rider! Kill the prisoner!" Brejik bellowed the command at his subordinates, seeing no other way out of the situation than a fight. Mayhem ensued. Everyone who wasn't a Vulkar began screaming and running. Soon, they had all disappeared, abandoning me and the swoop racer to our battle.

The thugs were barely a match for me and my Force powers, but I sorely missed the familiarity of my lightsaber. An ugly alien of a species I didn't even recognise tried to stab me, but his clumsy hit was easily avoided.

I stepped left, parried his blade and brought the end of the vibrosword sharply into his exposed ribs under his arm. He cried out as the blade lodged itself amongst his vitals. I wrenched the sword free, twisting it at the same time. The Vulkar fell forwards, clutching his wound.

I barely had time turn around before another attack came swinging towards my head from behind. I ducked, using the force to sense the location on my new combatant. As I rose, I brought the unbloodied blade of my sword into his spleen. He folded over, and flopped to the floor, groaning.

To my left, the swoop rider was facing two gangsters, one of them a female green Twi'lek, the other a male Zabrak. The Zabrak seemed to be favouring heavy offensive attacks, whereas the Twi'lek held back, only attacking when she saw a weakness in the rider's defence. The rider was being forced to give more and more ground, and would soon be cornered.

I wrapped the force around the Twi'lek and pulled her towards my blade. Her spine splintered with the impact with a sickening yet almost satisfying crunch. The swoop rider used the extra space, stepped out and drove his blade through the base of the Zabrak's skull.

Brejik was left standing alone against me and the rider. He dropped his sword and held his hands up. "I assure you, this was just a misunderstanding." He looked around frantically, probably planning his escape. "I meant no harm. All just a mistake." His voice rose to a high whine, tinged with panic.

The swoop rider wasn't buying it. He lifted a blaster and pointed it at the gang leader's head. "Whatever you say." He pulled the trigger and Brejik was left as a crumpled heap on the floor, with a smoking hole in his forehead.

"Well, maybe those bloody Vulkars will think twice before trying to keep a Jedi prisoner. And as for you, if you think you can claim me as your prize…" I turned to face the rider for the first time. It took all my mental effort not to run away.

"Wait, I don't believe it, you're…" I stopped myself before I could say 'Revan'. "You're one of the crew from the Endar Spire. Yes, I'm sure of it."

I suddenly felt very cold. I thought my heart had forgotten to beat. He looked at me curiously. The face was now a healthy shade of pink and his eyes a pleasant blue colour. The face no longer looked like a Sith Lord's, but it was unmistakeably the same person I had carried of the flagship. I hadn't seen Revan since I gave him over to the council, and for some reason I hadn't expected there to be any physical changes.

My musings were interrupted by him speaking. "I'm Kail. We have to get out of here quickly."

"Hold on. What are you doing here, riding in the race?" My heart suddenly did remember what it was supposed to be doing and did so very quickly.

"It was the only way we could save you." He replied, as he looked in his backpack for something.

I would have laughed if I wasn't trying not to wet myself. "Save me? Is that what you hoped to attempt, riding in that swoop race? In case you hadn't noticed I freed myself from that neural restraint collar, and if I hadn't stepped into that fight, those Vulkars would have left you for dead…"

I was going to say more, but he cut through. "Oh yeah? Then where would you have gone? I hardly think you could just go 'Hmm, I think Carth Onasi and Kail Artoz are staying in the South Upper city apartments!'"

I flinched as his sweaty face was suddenly found much too close to mine. "Carth Onasi is alive? Finally, some good news." Even better, because it meant I didn't have to stay with Revan on my own. It was unsettling how scared I was of him. "Tell me, do you have a plan to get off Taris yet?" Using all my years of training, I hid my fear under a thick layer of frosty superiority.

He pulled a red jacket and grey trousers out of his bag. "No, not yet. We were trying to find you. Remember?" He handed me the clothes. "Put these on. It's cold."

I didn't like the clothes, but they were better than what the Vulkars had me wearing. I took them from him, and pulled them over the hideous joy-girl outfit. "Please, take me to Carth. Between us, I think we could figure out a way to get off this rock."

"Okay. Just a minute." He made a round of the dead, pocketing credits and useful accessories. From Brejik, he took an expense customized belt, energy shield and gloves. In one of the pockets was my lightsaber, which he looked at oddly for a second before handing it to me. "Right, let's go."

He led the way carefully through the Lower city, avoiding Sith patrols as much as he could. We managed to reach the apartments he had spoken of before without being stopped.

Carth was waiting for us, still wearing that awful orange _thing_. I was certain it should have been washed by now. "Bastila, you're alive! Finally, things are looking up!"

Revan spoke. "Now we just need a way off Taris."

Keeping up the 'holier-than-thou' act, I asked quickly; "You haven't even figured that out yet? What have you been doing all this time?"

"Saving you. Remember?" He scowled at me before kicking his backpack across the floor and slumping onto one of the chairs.

"I was more than capable of saving myself from that mess. In fact, if I hadn't stepped into that fight you probably would have died. It is more accurate to say that _I_ saved _you_." I was pissed off, needed a shower, something to eat and a lot of sleep.

"Oh shut up you stuck up bitch! Just because you are a Jedi it doesn't mean you can treat us like shit!" He waved his hand around, indicating himself and Carth. "Do you have any idea how much hard work we put into finding you?" He stood up, probably to kick something but yelped in pain and quickly sat down again.

It was then that I first noticed the patch of blood that was spreading down his leg, staining his combat suit. If it were anyone else, I probably would have helped them. However, after his outburst, I decided not to go any closer. "I'll get a medpack" Carth announced and began rummaging through a footlocker for the necessary equipment.

Grunting in pain, Revan, or Kail as he called himself, peeled off his combat suit and inspected the wound. It was a nasty diagonal gash all the way down his thigh. I was surprised he had been able to walk like that. Carth stabbed the kolto injection into Revan's left arm, and slowly, the wound began to close. Not nearly enough, but it helped.

I could easily have fixed his leg, but I decided to stay as far away from Revan as I could. As I moved, I caught a whiff of my own smell. It was bad. I announced that I was taking a shower and then going to bed.

"Me too. I'm knackered." Revan hobbled over to one of the two beds and flopped onto it, still only wearing his republic-issue boxer shorts. It was strange to think of the ex-Sith lord walking around in his underpants.

I had my shower and got into bed. Carth declared that he was going out for a drink and some supplies. Within minutes, I was almost asleep. And then the dreams began again.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Here we go, chapter 5. I spent all day on this. I'm not sure its very good, but there we are. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Let me know if I make any mistakes anywhere please. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 5

The dreams were different this time. This time I saw myself as though from Revan's perspective. And there was the strange feeling that this wasn't my dream – that it was someone else's and I had just stumbled across it in my sleep.

I sat up and looked around. It was impossible to tell what time it was, as there were no windows or clocks in the entire apartment. In one corner of the room was an enormous Wookie snoring loudly. Curled up by its side was a comparatively tiny blue Twi'lek girl, who couldn't have been older than fifteen. Carth wasn't in the room.

I wondered what the Wookie and the Twi'lek were doing in here. There had been no Wookies or children on the Endar Spire, so they must be locals. I stood up quietly, trying not to wake anybody, and made my way to the bathroom. As I passed Revan on my right I noticed he was sweating and twitching. He must be having bad dreams as well.

When I returned from the bathroom, the Twi'lek was awake. She greeted me 'Good morning' before returning her attention back to her breakfast. I sat at one of the other chairs.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Mission, and the Wookie in the corner is my best friend Zaalbar. You must be Kail's girlfriend." If I had been eating anything, I probably would have choked.

"Girlfriend?" I was horrified at the very idea of being Revan's girlfriend. It was almost sickening. "I couldn't be. I'm a Jedi." I was quite pleased with my excuse, thoughnobody had ever actually said'Jedi must not love'.

"Really? I wish I had force powers. Do you have one of those cool light-swords?" She looked around, trying to spot my lightsaber.

I nodded. "A lightsaber, yes." I took the lightsaber out of the footlocker where I had put it the night before. Ignited, it filled the room with a faint yellow glow.

Mission's eyes were wide and her jaw hung open. "Wow! Can I hold it?" She began bobbing up and down in her seat, hoping I would say yes.

"Ok. But be careful, it's very dangerous." I switched it off and handed it to her.

"Yeah, I know." She took it and inspected the hilt slowly. Then, discovering the 'on' button, she pressed it. The two beams of light shot out, one straight up in the air, the other down through her breakfast, through the table and then through her chair. It had missed her knee by about a centimetre.

She jumped in surprise and dropped the saber. I caught it before it caused any more damage in her inexperienced hands. Like a tap on the shoulder, the force warned me that Revan was waking up.

He yawned loudly, grunted a good morning and went straight to the bathroom. I turned back to Mission. "Where's Carth?"

"I think he is still in the cantina, drinking or playing pazaak. I let him borrow my best deck, so he could win loads of credits. He figures that however we get of Taris, it will be expensive."

"And there's a lot of money to be made in pazaak?" I knew how to play, roughly. I wasn't any good, and had always found the game to be boring.

"It depends how much you wager. Beginners usually begin with about, I don't know, five credits. The best players can turn over thousands in a single evening. Anyway, Carth said he would be coming back about now to get some sleep."

I nodded. "Why are you here, staying with Carth and Re…Kail?"

She smiled, obviously pleased to be able to tell her story. "Well, what happened is, they found out that you were a Vulkar prisoner. So they went to Gadon Thek. He's the leader of the Hidden Beks, the other major swoop gang. They didn't know where Brejik was keeping you, so they decided that Kail would have to ride in the swoop race and win you as the prize. But to be able to win they needed this accelerator to go on the bike, but the Vulkars had stolen it. Anyway, I was the only non-Vulkar who knew how to get into their base…"

Revan emerged from the bathroom, wearing his combat suit. He sat down on the other chair and started eating Mission's leftover breakfast. "…you see, Zaalbar and I like to go exploring so we knew everything about the undercity, and besides, I had nicked the codes to get into the base. Anyway, they came to find us, but Zaalbar had been captured by Gammoreans. Kail and Carth agreed to help me rescue him. So they did, and then Zaalbar swore a life debt. That's just about it, anyway."

After breakfast was finished with, we decided to go to the local cantinas to look for a way off Taris. We had barely stepped out of the apartment when a green Twi'lek ran up with a message. Apparently, a Mandalorian merc wanted to speak to Revan, and would be waiting in the Upper city cantina.

Mission, Revan and I went, leaving Zaalbar to guard the hideout. The Mandalorian was making no secret about his presence in the cantina – he stuck out like a sore thumb. He introduced himself as Canderous Ordo and said that he was working for Davik, the local crime lord, and the exchange.

He took a seat at one of the tables and ordered drinks for all of us. He detailed his plans to escape Taris. He could supply the ship, if we were willing to break into the Sith military base. This would involve stealing a very expensive custom-made astromech droid.

"The droid was made for Davik. If you tell Janice that I sent you, she will sell you it. It will probably cost around two-thousand credits." He said it as though two-thousand credits was easy to come by. Which, in his line of work, probably was.

"How are we going to get that much money?" Revan asked, finishing his drink.

The merc shrugged. "There are a lot of bounties to be collected. You could do them. You could 'borrow' the money. Fight in the arena. Whatever. Just get those codes soon. I will be waiting for you in Javyar's cantina." He downed the rest of his drink in a single go, shouldered his massive repeating-blaster and left.

"Ok, why were you talking to that mercenary?" Carth sat in Canderous' vacated seat.

"He's offered us a way to get off Taris. We just need two-thousand credits." Mission explained cheerily. I was certain she was too young to be drinking that much. "How much did you get playing pazaak?"

"Not enough." Carth took a handful of credit chips out of his pocket and dumped them on the table. Together they amounted to about five-hundred. "And we have another five hundred back in the apartment."

"So we need another thousand. I think the best way would be the arena Canderous mentioned." I suggested.

Revan nodded. "You can't fight – we can't risk bringing attention to you. Mission is too young. Zaalbar is not allowed in the Upper city, and that leaves Carth or myself."

"Forget it. I'm going to bed." Carth said, grumpily, quickly followed by Mission saying "I'm not too young! I can fight!" Carth got up and left.

"I know you can fight, but you won't be allowed. You can stay and watch though." Revan said it in a patronising tone.

"No, I'm going back to talk to Zaalbar." She ran after Carth, leaving me in the uncomfortable position of being alone with Revan.

After a few minutes of awkward silence he spoke. "I'm sorry I shouted at you yesterday. It's been really stressful this last week, what with Carth accusing me of blowing up the Endar Spire all the time and trying to find you. You're not angry at me are you?"

"No." I tried desperately to think of something to say. "Thank you for helping me."

He laughed, a disturbing sound. "Oh, so you admit that I did actually rescue you?"

"No. I rescued myself. But after that, I would have had nowhere to go."

"I see." He looked at my untouched drink. "You're not a fan of alcohol, I take it."

"I like some drinks. This is far too strong. Do you want it?"

"Umm…no. I need to find out about this arena thing. The sooner we get the money, the better. But keep it for me, I might have it later."

I took the drink into the room with a band playing. The music was awful, but it was better than the drunken shouts of grumpy pazaak players. I had barely sat down before an ugly man wedged his carcass into the seat next to me.

His breath stank and his face was like a minefield of pustules. I cringed as he grinned at me. "I don't think I've seen you before. Offworlder?" I nodded.

"Nice. I'm Jergan. What's your name?"

I thought desperately, trying to come up with a fake name for myself. After a too long silence, I decided on using my mother's name, and regretted it as soon as the word was out of my mouth. "Helena."

He raised a dubious eyebrow. "Well, 'Helena', can I buy you a drink?"

Remembering something Mission had said earlier that morning, I attempted to get rid of the slimy Jergan. "My boyfriend will be here soon."

He completely ignored me. "What do you think of this music?" He put his hand on my arm, but I snatched it away.

"It's awful. It's exactly the same as the dreary rubbish they play in every cantina all over the galaxy." I turned towards the door just in time to see Revan come in.

"Well, everyone has their own taste in music. Are you sure I can't get you a drink" This was possibly the most infuriating man I had met all year. Revan noticed Jergan and mouthed to me "_Do you want him away?_"

I nodded to Revan, and said to Jergan "I'm sure." Revan grabbed Jergan by the collar and hurled him to the other side of the room. He crashed into one of the tables sending drinks and pazaak cards flying. Revan sat down in the now empty chair.

"I've been speaking to the Hutt in charge of the arena. He says that I can fight, and that if I win then I get ten percent of the winnings. Unfortunately, it will bring a lot of attention our way. Do you think we can take the risk?"

"I don't think we have choice. We need the money. How long do you suppose it will take to get enough?"

"I'm not sure. I can do about two fights a day, and there is only five other fighters. So three days, probably."

I nodded. "Ok. You'd better get going."

He took my leftover drink with him, and went back to the Hutt to arrange his first fight. As I left, Jergan gave me a filthy look.

---

The next few days passed slowly. Revan earned three hundred the first day, and seven hundred the next. He decided he would take on the only other combatant so we would have enough credits to buy better equipment. He came back to the apartment that evening with another five hundred credits.

"You wont believe this – I've been challenged to a death match by Bendak Starkiller." I didn't recognise the name, but Mission was obviously impressed.

"_The_ Bendak Starkiller? You're not going to do it, are you? The guy's never lost a fight. Ever!"

"Well, I've kind of already agreed to it. We could use the extra credits… The winnings on this match will be huge."

"You're dead. Come on Zaalbar, want to go exploring?"

"_No_" The Wookie moaned, but stood up anyway and left with the girl.

"Do you think you will be able to beat this Bendak?" Carth asked.

"I don't know. But I can't pull out now. You and Bastila buy the droid whilst I fight, and then we'll all go on a little field trip to the Sith military base."

Carth's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Oh joy."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Ok, Chapter 6. My biggest so far. Thanks for the reviews everyone, they are all useful. Please tell me exactly what you think, and let me know if I've made a mistake. Hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 6**

The following morning, after breakfast and a quick discussion about our plans for the day, Revan set out towards the cantina. Carth, Mission and I gathered our two thousand credits and went to the droid shop, leaving Zaalbar to look after the apartment.

Along the way, we saw two young children kicking an Ithorian, all the way down the walkway. Nobody moved to stop them. Carth spoke under his breath. "I hate this planet. It's all prejudice and bullying."

Mission run up after one of the children and slapped him, hard, across the face. "Leave the guy alone, you little core slime!" The other child, a girl, shoved Mission. Then her face met the solid resistance of Twi'lek fist. She started screaming as blood trickled out of her nose.

"Ow! What did you do that for?" Both children started flailing their little limbs at Mission, until Carth picked up both of them by the collar, gave them a firm telling off and ordered them off home.

"Mission, I know that those kids were in the wrong, but you don't take the law into your own hands. I'm sure this entire matter could have been resolved without violence." I told her, perfectly reasonably.

She exploded. "Oh shut up! Just because you're a Jedi it doesn't mean that you know everything! You're not even that much older than me, so stop treating me like some helpless kid!"

I would have said something else, but Carth stepped in again. "Ok you two, stop this. Mission, do you want to go back to the apartment to cool off?"

"Why can't _she_ go back? I haven't done anything wrong. I was trying to help that Ithorian. She just stood there doing nothing and then she started moaning at me. She should be made to go back home."

I snapped back, "At least I don't fly off the handle like a spoilt little brat acting half her age." Three days of each others company had hardly bred good moods. Her blue eyes challenged me, daring me to say anything else. I noticed her hand moving towards her vibroblade. Jeez, this kid had a short fuse.

"Right, I've had enough of this. Mission, go back and talk to Zaalbar or something. Bastila, stop winding her up, and come with me." Carth took my wrist and started walking me towards the droid shop.

The Twi'lek at the droid store, Janice Nall, readily sold us the droid when we told her that Canderous had sent us. T3-M4 beeped cheerily at us and angled its flat head at Carth, like a Gizka waiting to be petted.

"Ok. Lets go collect Kail, assuming he's still alive, and break into the Sith base." Instinctively, I felt myself reach through the force to see if Kail _was_ still alive. I found him, almost too easily. He was injured and exhausted, but alive.

"He's hurt. Badly. We have to get to him quickly. I may be able to help him." Carth furrowed his eyebrows at me, but obeyed. The droid followed after us, making a sort 'rrrrrrr' sound as it moved.

There were crowds of people in the cantina, all cheering the 'Mysterious Stranger'. That was Revan's arena nickname. Pushing our way through the swarms of fans, we found Revan. He was surrounded by people waving data pads at him hoping for an autograph. They all seemed blissfuly ignorant of the fact that he was slowly bleeding to death.

He looked up and smiled when he saw me and Carth, then, like a felled tree, slowly toppled onto his side. Using force wave, I pushed all of the surrounding fans out of the way, whilst Carth shouted, "Give the man some space to breathe, you tossers!"

Revan's chest was riddled with blaster holes. I sensed him healing him self, very slowly. I prayed silently that he wasn't remembering how to use the force, and that it was merely his subconscious working.

"Quickly Carth, get him to the medical facility. He needs attention immediately." He nodded, soldier instincts kicking in, and hauled the wounded Revan over his shoulder. The crowd parted to let us through.

The owner of the medical facility, an aging man, readily agreed to help. He gave Revan a heavy dose of kolto, and bandaged up the wounds. With a little help from the Force, he was fully healed within the hour.

"So you actually beat Bendak?" Carth asked when Revan could talk again. Revan grinned and opened his backpack, revealing a small mountain of credits, and pulled out a blaster pistol with 'Starkiller' etched onto the side.

"Where's the new droid? I'd like to have those codes for the blockade by the end of the day." T3 rolled up and beeped merrily at Revan, lights flashing all over its silver frame. "Good. Let's go then."

--

It took the droid all of fifteen seconds to slice the security system on the Sith base. Its job done, it rumbled off back to the apartment. I had my lightsaber on my belt, its familiar weight comfortable against my hip. Carth readied his blasters and Revan drew his vibrosword.

The elevator stopped and opened, revealing a Twi'lek receptionist sitting at the main desk. "_You have five seconds to tell me why you are here before I push this alarm button._" She didn't speak Basic, but we all understood.

"If you push that button, I will personally feed you your own dismembered limbs. Leave now, and we'll let you live." Revan spoke calmly, as though he were commenting on the weather. The receptionist took one last look at the alarm switch before fleeing her desk and leaving via the elevator.

Revan immediately began slicing the security system. He overrode all of the electrical mains he had access to and managed to deactivate all of the droids in the building. After downloading all the area schematics to his data pad, he led us in the direction of a second elevator.

On the way, we passed several holding cells, though there was only one occupant; a skinny Duros. His eyes lit up with hope as he saw Revan and started talking about hidden sith bodies. He begged us to release him by using five control panels on the wall. All of the panels had to be set to the 'off' position for the cage to open. Three of them were already 'on'.

Carth and Revan looked at the puzzle for a while trying to figure it out. I worked it out in seconds. I flipped the middle switch, and then the two end ones. The force field deactivated, and the Duros left, shouting his eternal gratitude.

We passed dead Sith as we continued towards the elevator, some of them still twitching from being electrocuted. The smell of burnt flesh filled the corridor. The next door revealed an enormous Sith war droid, which merely beeped at us as we passed. "Wow. You really can slice a computer, huh?" Carth asked.

Revan grinned as we stepped into the elevator. "This is too easy. The only resistance we've encountered so far was that receptionist." Carth laughed, but as soon as the lift stopped, I thought he had spoken too soon. I could sense a dark presence on this floor. It wasn't strong, and I sensed that whoever was there was poorly trained.

The door opened to reveal a bald man, wearing the silver armour that some dark Jedi seem to like. He was only armed with a vibrosword. Revan was right – this was too easy.

He turned around as we approached. "You will pay for interrupting my… wait." He looked directly at Revan. "I sense the Force is strong within you. Very strong." Who would have thought a Force adept could be found on this insignificant planet?" Then he noticed me for the first time.

"This is unbelievable – The most wanted person in the galaxy has just walked into my grasp! Lord Malak will be greatly pleased. Prepare to die, Jedi!" He thrust out both his hands, and I felt the Force whistle past me and strike both Carth and Revan. They both froze, held in place by a stasis field. Then, pulling with the Force, he snatched my lightsaber from my belt and threw it into a footlocker which slammed shut and locked.

Great, I was completely unarmed. Without wasting a second, he began attacking. I dodged out of the way of his vibrosword, learning his combat style. He used a traditional fighting technique, with a predictable sequence of moves. He would be easy to defeat.

As soon as he went for another overhead attack, I grabbed his wrist and used his momentum to pull his arm forward and down, twisting it one hundred and eighty degrees at the same time. I danced out of the way of the spinning blade as it flew out of his hand. Still holding his wrist, I pulled him forward again and brought my left fist down on his bared elbow. I felt and heard the bones crack with the impact.

He pulled away and spun backwards aiming a kick at my mid section, but I'd been expecting that. I stepped back and twisted his foot as it reached the end of its kick. He flipped right over and landed on his bad arm.

He jumped up and threw Force lightning at me. I wasn't strong enough to deflect it back at him, but I managed to block it. Seeing that I outmatched him at Force tricks, he tried punching again with his left arm. I used an inside to outside left block with my left armand grabbed his wrist again.

I was on the outside of his arm. I danced underneath it so his arm was over my shoulder and my back was to him. Taking his arm with me, I twisted to the left until I was behind him and his elbow was next to his ear. Then, using his shoulder as a pivot I pulled his elbow backwards and dislocated his arm with a sharp crack.

I summoned the vibrosword from the floor with the Force and drove it into the back of his neck and through the base of his skull. He screamed as the blade burst through the front of his face, spraying blood. Seconds later, his life force drained away and he died, his body flopping forward onto the floor.

As he died, the stasis fields surrounding Carth and Revan fizzled and dissolved, giving them free movement. Revan stepped up next to me and looked at the corpse in front of us. "Ok. Note to self; Don't underestimate a Jedi. That was amazing, and you were completely unarmed!"

"Good work, Bastila. Now, let's get those codes and get out of here before someone realises what's happened." They sliced the security locks on the two footlockers at each side of the room. Inside we found the codes we needed, my lightsaber, one thousand credits and a weapon upgrade.

We left quickly, going back the same way we came in and not stopping until we reached the outside. The sun was low in the sky. "Shall we go back to the apartment, or go fetch a drink?" Revan asked.

"I'll take the codes back, and then meet you guys in the cantina." Carth offered.

It had been a long time since I'd been able to meditate properly, and I really needed to relax. "No. I'll take them back, and you two take Mission and Zaalbar for a drink. I need to meditate."

"Meditate? You Jedi actually do all that mind clearing stuff? I bet it doesn't even work." Revan sneered.

I took the codes from Carth and left without a word, ignoring the part of me that wanted to teach that ignoramus a lesson. As I walked away I heard Carth say to Revan, "I don't think she likes you very much." That had to be the understatement of the year.

--

Carth, Revan and Zaalbar left early the next morning to speak to Canderous leaving me, Mission and the droid. Mission scowled at me as I checked all of the droids functions, still angry at being made to go home yesterday. She had a hangover as well, which wasn't improving her mood.

Halfway through the day Carth contacted us, letting us know that they had infiltrated Davik's estate. They hoped to have the escape ship, the _Ebon Hawk_, within four hours. All of our equipment was packaged in the footlocker and ready to move out as soon as they had the ship.

Two hours after Carth had talked to us, my Force senses began prickling all over. It was the worst feeling I'd ever had. My hands were shaking, I was sweating and could barely breathe. I remembered other Jedi talking about similar experiences before huge disasters. I still wasn't prepared for what happened.

Twenty minutes after the shaking began we heard explosions from all directions. The entire apartment shook. T3 beeped in alarm and Mission started shrieking. Then, like a kick in the head, I felt hundreds of people die all at once. It kept happening, as each explosion sounded hundreds were joining the Force; their death screams tearing through my head like a lightsaber.

I doubled over onto my hands and knees and almost puked. As I crouched in the floor, I heard the communicator beep. I could barely see anything, but my hearing seemed unaffected. I heard Mission screaming through the communicator, "Kail? What's happening?" A pause. "Bastila's collapsed. What should I do?" Another pause.

I felt her shake me by the shoulders as my head felt like it was going through a cheese grater. "Come on, get up! They've got the ship and we have to leave now!" The droid beeped, and Mission kept on screaming at me. "Get up! Come on!" I felt her hands grab my collar, and hauled me onto the droids head. "Walk!"

Using the droid as some kind of enormous mechanical walking stick, I managed to stumble to the door as Mission dragged the footlocker along behind her. It felt like miles from the door to the elevator. Halfway there I emptied my stomach, and again when we were in the lift.

"Come on Bastila, we're nearly there. They should be waiting with the ship." My vision swam, my head pounded and I could feel the bile rising in my throat again. The elevator lurched to a halt causing me to vomit again. On the surface it was chaos. Buildings were in ruins, and there was fire everywhere. Some idiot had parked a star ship in the middle of the walkway.

Everything blurred again as we got nearer the ship, and I felt myself fall again. It was hard enough staying conscious – I couldn't possibly be expected to walk any further. I felt strong arms pick me up and carry me in a jerky run. I retched again.

The someone put me down again, this time on a cold metal floor. Worried voices talked around me, but there were no words any more. Just agony and the screams of the dieing.

--

Some time later I woke up. I was still on the floor and I stank of vomit. Not surprising, as it was all the way down my front and in my hair. The earthquake which had been going on in my head previously had reduced itself to a low rumble.

Carth was standing next to me. "Where are we going?" I asked, my raw throat rasping at the words.

"We're not sure yet. We are just fleeing Taris at the moment, but we're been chased by Sith snub fighters."

"Plot a course for Dantooine. There's a Jedi enclave there where we can find refuge."

He nodded and walked away. Utterly exhausted, I dropped my head back to the metal floor and all was black.


End file.
